


The Rest

by Megumi_no_te



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, Comic Book Science, F/M, Fix-It, I can't remember the exact order of events, I was too busy crying, Parent Tony Stark, Post-Canon Fix-It, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Vibranium (Marvel), i think
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 07:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18633145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Megumi_no_te/pseuds/Megumi_no_te
Summary: ENDGAME SPOILERS! DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ENDGAME!Seriously, here be spoilers. Next line. You've been warned.We get the rest of the story, and Tony gets the rest he deserves, at home with his family.





	The Rest

**Author's Note:**

> My beta is busy, so I'm posting this without her input. I might edit it more later. Also, if you recognize it, it's probably from the movie.
> 
> So I saw Endgame in the afternoon on the 26th and I'm still crying two days later. The writer in me thinks that Tony's character storyline was beautiful and perfect; he had his family and got closure with his dad and the other Avengers, which is basically everything he needed. As a character and a hero, he deserved to have that ultimate role to play. He deserved to save the universe, and his death was perfectly him. Tony Stark was Tony Stark through and through until the bittersweet end.
> 
> But that's the writer in me. The rest of me is still sobbing in a corner somewhere. If we exclude the possibility of Captain Marvel using the gauntlet to bring him back (because as of now I think that's the best solution, although maybe not one he would have wanted since it implies that other people can and perhaps should be brought back as well, and that's a whole new can of worms), this is what I think should have happened. Tony deserved more, but we deserved more, too.
> 
> *Edited 4/29 after seeing Endgame again. All I did was change "munchkin" to "Maguna"

“We’ll be okay,” Pepper says. “You can rest now.”

They all watch Tony take his final breaths.

*

_This doesn’t have to be the end._

Everything is pitch black. He can feel the sensation of opening his eyes, but nothing changes.

“Is this what death feels like?” Tony wonders aloud. “I thought there was supposed to be a light.”

He remembers the blackouts that would happen in the months after the decimation; how hard he worked to get the world’s technology up and running properly again; how thankful he was to have a wife and then a child to come home to. Even with the end of life as the world knew it, he’d still found his own little light in the darkness.

*

“This doesn’t have to be the end,” Stephen says.

Pepper looks up at him, tears streaming down her face. “What do you mean?”

“The Iron Man helmets have been observing Tony’s brain waves for years,” the former neurosurgeon answers. “With the stones, we can—”

“Strange, my best friend just used them and died for it,” Rhodes cuts him off. “He wouldn’t want anyone else doing that, now that we’ve won.”

Stephen shakes his head. “We would be using them differently. I can use the Time Stone to find the data across this time stream. Miss Maximoff can utilize the Mind Stone to weave them together and pave the way for his own thought patterns and personality to return. And Mr. Barton can use the soul stone to draw his spirit back.” He turns to Shuri. “If the princess is willing to gather and shape the vibranium to give him a body, then we can bring him back to life.”

Shuri nods her acuquiecense. “He just saved the whole universe. Of course I can make him a body.” She raises an eyebrow and makes a spinning motion with her fingers. Amused, Stephen smirks and opens a portal back to her lab in Wakanda. “Thank you. I’ll get on it straight away.”

As soon as the portal closes, Peter scrutinizes the Sorcerer. “No offense, Doctor Strange, but what makes you so certain this will work? Did you see it in the future?”

Stephen glances at Tony’s body, remembering. “Whether I did or not is irrelevant. The Universe itself wishes it so.”

*

_You have a choice._

Slowly, stars start to appear in the distance.

“Oh, boy. I thought I was done with space.” Tony recalls lying on the ground of Morgan’s tent, the two of them poking their heads out, staring at the sky for what felt like long hours and mere seconds. “Who am I kidding? I’d stare at space forever if it meant more time with her.”

*

“You have a choice.” Stephen looks at the people gathered around him, all of whom know and care for Tony Stark, and focuses on his fellow stone holders. “Are you completely willing to play your part?”

Wanda and Clint glance at each other. “Vision would have wanted me to give Stark another chance,” she says sadly. “And his daughter deserves to grow up with both of her parents there.”

Clint clenches his fists. “I hate using this stone, knowing that Nat is gone because of it….” He trails off until Wanda places her hand over his, and he takes a deep breath. “But Wanda’s right. Nat would have wanted this. And if I can help a kid get her father back, I feel like I have to.” He stands tall, returning Stephen’s gaze. “If you say I’m able, then I’m wiling.”

*

_Do you want to go back?_

Tony thinks about Pepper and the fifteen years he got to share with her. Longer than he’d expected, but less time than he had hoped for. Was it enough?

He thinks about Morgan, more precious than anything else in existence. He’d wanted to see her off on her first day of school. He’d wanted to help her with her homework and tutor her in science and math. He’d wanted to scare off all the boys that would flock her way. He’d wanted to walk her down the aisle. He’d wanted to tell her he loves her three thousand times, and then three thousand more, and so on, knowing it could never be enough.

He thinks about the pain he left behind, both his own and that of those he loves, and longs to protect Morgan from that pain. If he can return to his old, broken body and get even one more moment with them, just to make things more bearable, then it’ll be worth it.

“Do I want to go back?” he wonders aloud, then nods to himself. For her? “Whatever it takes.”

*

“Would he want to come back?” Stephen asks, knowing that everyone else needs to reach the answer themselves. “Even to this body?”

Rhodes snorts. “Morgan and Pepper are here. Tones would want to come back even if he was put back in his old body right after the final snap.”

Pepper smiles, tears in her eyes. “He’s so stubborn. And he’d know we want him back.”

Peter nods along. “I hope he would, because I only just got him back. It wasn’t long enough. I want him back, whatever it takes, Doctor Strange.”

*

It takes a few days to get everything organized. No one but Stephen is certain it will work, and they don’t want to give Morgan false hope, so they hold the funeral anyway.

Rhodes and Pepper are sitting in the living room, listening to Happy and Morgan talk about cheeseburgers out on the deck, when an orange portal opens up inside the cabin. Stephen steps out, looking tired but pleased.

“It worked.” Pepper and Rhodes both jump to their feet. “You can both go. I’ll make sure Morgan is occupied.”

Pepper hesitates for a fraction of a second before grabbing Rhodes’s arm and rushing through to Wakanda.

*

It takes a few minutes for him to get his bearings.

“…think he’ll wake up?” He recognizes that voice.

“Pep?” he whispers.

“Tony!” Pepper yells, relieved and exhilarated and oh so worried. “Oh God, Tony, are you alright?”

He reaches out for her and feels her take his hand. “Yeah, I’m… I’m fine. Morgan?”

“She’s back home with Happy and Strange,” Rhodes answers from his other side.

“Rhodey.” Tony smiles. “Where…?”

“Wakanda. Princess Shuri helped us get you back.”

“What?”

Pepper pushes his hair away from his face. “Tony, sweetheart, the battle ended three days ago.”

Without warning, Tony quickly sits up. “How am I awake? And why doesn’t anything hurt?”

“Tones…” Rhodes responds. “You died.”

“Yeah, I thought so, but—”

“Your body wasn’t functional anymore. Princess Shuri made you a new body out of vibranium.”

Tony lifted his hands to stare at them. “Wow. Okay, then.” He looks around until he spots Shuri off to the side. “Uh, thank you, princess.”

Shuri smiles. “It was the least I could do. You did save everyone.” She pulls up a holographic display from her kimoyo beads. “Your body is fully functional, but due to the short time frame you don’t look the same as you did before the battle. Given more time, I can correct that.”

Tony frowns and turns to Pepper. “Will I scare Morgan?”

Pepper shakes her head. “You don’t look that different. Just the little details are missing. Your hair and eyes are normal, although the hair color is off. It’s mostly just the scars and age lines that are missing.”

“Guess I’m lucky Wakanda is so advanced.”

“Your hair won’t grow anymore,” Shuri interjects. “So if you want something different, you’ll have to come here for now. Although, I won’t be surprised if you figure out how to manage things at home sooner or later.” A portal opens a few feet from the bed. “Well, I guess that’s your ride.”

Tony nods and stands up. “Wow, this body is awesome. Guess we can’t have any more kids, though.”

Pepper rolls her eyes. “If Morgan wants a sibling, we can always adopt. Besides,” she smirks, “I have it on good authority that you’ll be able to function perfectly fine.”

“Oh God,” Rhodes says, “I did not need to hear that.”

Tony laughs. “Thanks again, Princess Shuri,” he says before rushing through the portal, Pepper and Rhodes right behind him.

*

“Morgan!” Tony calls out as soon as he steps into his living room.

A little girl springs up from her spot on the couch between Happy and Stephen. “Daddy?” she asks, confused.

Tears fall from Tony’s eyes. “I’m here, Maguna.” He kneels down and opens his arms wide. After another second, she runs into them, sobbing. “I love you so much, Morgan.”

Through her tears, Morgan gets out, “I love you three thousand, daddy.”

Glancing at Stephen, Pepper mouths “thank you” before kneeling to join her family and adding, “I love you both three thousand.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment and kudos, you guys. I'm considering writing a bit more if people want a continuation. Thanks for reading!


End file.
